Bike Blog
Photo by Rob Hamilton-Smith
Rob Hamilton Smith has been running a blog again for quite a while now. Get the latest on the Euro life and some stunning photos over at his blog. Expedition style skiing and snowshoe action in winter and biking in summer.
Wow, it’s 10th February already! Where is the time going? The weather is still wintery. We had blizzards this morning and now it’s blue skies and sunshine. An attempt on Snowdon is planned for the last weekend of the month, but if this weather keeps up we will be falling back to plan B which is a blitz around Penmachno’s trails. Not much to report on the riding front. I eventually gave up with discs on the Road rat and have put Deore v-brakes on instead. More than enough stopping power without the really-bloody-annoying irritation of the wheel getting pulled in the drop outs all the time.
New bits came in the post for the Remedy so that is back up and running. I used the Park CC-3 (go, no go) gauge designed to check the chain wear, but it’s not even close to 0.75% wear yet, so there’s some decent spares in the cupboard now for when replacement time comes. Still waiting for a 183 rotor calliper adaptor for the Singlespeed, so that is looking a bit sorry for itself at the moment. Not much else to report…
Headed over to stay with my mates Neil and Lardy near Wrexham this weekend. Saturday was a ride out from their house cross country to the trail centre to meetup with Marshall. Suitably refreshed with tea and cake from the staff in the centre, we headed out for a frosty and icy blast around Neil’s famous mashup of the best of the Red, Black and Offa’s Dyke trails.
Overnight it started snowing. The end result was that on Sunday there was between 4 and 8 inches of snow covering everything. It was ace, with that crisp crunch of snow under the tyres. Well, it was ace right up until the point about 20 minutes into the ride where I managed to destroy the middle ring after which I spent the rest of the ride in the granny gear. Which was a bit knackering…
Things have been manic since Christmas. I have a load of half written drafts that need finishing off and posting up. To top everything on Monday my MacBook Pro at work wouldn’t wake up. After much power cycling, removing the battery, resetting the PRAM and resetting the SMC, I phoned Apple Support. Explained what I had tried and asked if I could just take it down to my nearest Apple store. An appointment was booked for within 3hours of my call.
Made it down to the store in the Manchester Arndale Centre, went straight into my appointment with the technician on the Genius Bar. He spent 20 minutes trying different things and then asked if I could leave it with them for further inspection and testing. It looked like it was a known issue with a faulty batch of Nvidia graphics processors. I left thinking how I was going to cope using a PC for five days until it was fixed.
Next day at 11am I received a call to say it was ready for collection. Went back down to the store and it was the GPU fault, so the whole logic board had been replaced under warranty and there was no cost. The whole thing was handled within 24hrs and in fact the store had it for less than 12hrs, probably only 4 working hours at that! On top of all this they cleaned the laptop and had friendly, knowledgeable staff in a relaxed environment – all adds up to great customer service. This is the ultimate customer service experience that all other vendors need to take note of. Now I’m trying to work out how I can afford a new 27″ iMac for home…
I saw this in the news today and for some reason it made me think of my old pal and work colleague wee Ben:
The tonic wine Buckfast has been mentioned in 5,000 crime reports by Scotland’s biggest police force in the last three years, a BBC investigation has revealed.
Almost one in 10 of those crimes in the Strathclyde Police force area was violent, according to figures obtained by the broadcaster under Freedom of Information legislation. During that period the Buckfast bottle was used as a weapon 114 times.
Police said the figures suggested there is an association between Buckfast and violence. The findings are revealed in the programme BBC Scotland Investigates: The Buckfast Code tonight.
During the programme Superintendent Bob Hamilton of Strathclyde Police was asked whether the figures mean that Buckfast can be said to be associated with violence. He replied: “I think it’s clear from the figures that there is an association there.”
He added: “The figures are fairly clear that Buckfast is mentioned in a number of crime reports and over the period requested, the Buckfast bottle was used 114 times as a weapon.” Buckfast is produced by Benedictine monks in a Devon monastery. The investigation also looks at the ingredients of the drink and how they may affect the behaviour of consumers, potentially making them anxious and aggressive if drunk in large quantities.
Back from France, where I have advanced my snow and ice driving skills in a hired Megane. Initially there’s nothing quite as scary as descending mountain roads with switchbacks in conditions when you can’t see and road markings and the side of the road which has a sheer drop is only protected by broomstick handles painted red (aka snow poles). Bizarrely, after doing it two or three times, the fear is gone and replaced with a rather more hardened view in that if it was really that dangerous they’d have done something about it by now. Anyway if owning a snow shovel is a prerequisite for living on the plateau we are one step closer.
This is Pete’s band. Check out their demo EP.
The week before last I observed what can only be described as mincing, on a bike. Little Chinese bloke riding a bike with his knees bowing out at about 45 degrees and pretty much only his toes on the pedals. It is without doubt the campest display of bike riding I have ever seen, well perhaps with the exception of Raoul trying to ride his rigid IF down a peak district boulder infested descent and deciding that the best course of action was to avoid it completely.
The Evidence
Truth is however, that I too have been guilty of a degree of mincing. It’s the result of trying to ride a road bike with slick tyres on snow and ice and realising that you have the same degree of control as an Elephant handler trying to manoeuvre his big-eared and tusked mammal across a tightrope. It’s difficult and you know it could go wrong at any time.
As a result last night I gave the Roadrat a wash and bedecked it with a set of cross tyres for the first time since taking ownership. The result is a rugged and good looking bike, which feels infinitely more stable, has traction and can go around corners, even if the extra mass is noticeable. Perhaps more importantly, I can ride again with confidence, although the fear of being taken out by a sliding car, bus or ice cream van (okay last one is unlikely) still keeps me on my toes.
RATM make the UK Christmas Number One. Guitarist Tom Morello said that the campaign to prevent another X Factor number one had “tapped into the silent majority of the people in the UK who are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another”.
Frontman De la Rocha said the band would perform a free concert in the UK in 2010 to celebrate their chart win and added that proceeds from the single would go to homeless charity Shelter. Top result all around, unless you’re an untalented musician voted for by a zombie-like celebrity and tv obsessed public.
As Clint Boon said on XFM Manchester last week, it’s nothing personal against X Factor winner Joe McElderry, but that the music loving public, the ones that go to gigs and watch real music, was tired of X Factor drivel and that hopefully it would initiate a return to genuine music. The type of music where people write and sing their own songs and play their own intruments. The kind of music that makes it onto mountain bike videos.
For the owner of the pale blue Audi A6 that tried to cut me up and kill me on the bends of fury on the commute into work this morning:
Make RATM Christmas Number one and show Simon Cowell how much love there is for Shite X Factor.
Buy Killing in the Name Of from Amazon for 29p.
